Group items tagged

Remember that artist we talked about a few weeks ago, Hasan Elahi, who "actively discloses countless mundane details of Elahi's daily activities" as an experiment in sousveillance? This article from Hydra Magazine argues that Elahi's project, which stems from the artist's ideas that "the best way to protect your privacy is to give it away," does not at all interfere with the government's surveillance programs--"it only adds variety to the realm of possible facts that may be invoked when it's your turn to play suspect."

This probably seems ridiculous that I'm sharing this, but this directly relates to a paper I wrote last semester about the rhetoric employed by AXE and now I think they're making a move that applies to this class. Here we have some combination of McLuhan's idea of media being an extension of man and we see elements of IF as people actively contribute the making of a graphic novel and then are characterized by the creators for their input all the while fusing their digital selves to some sort of global and digital AXE alliance. Imagine how difficult it would be to by a different product once you become part of their story and your digital self participates (to channel the ideas of Barry Brummett) in this particular reality.

This is a pretty straightforward, simplistic article (it is How Stuff Works ... I mean, come on) that deals with tracking computer use in the workplace. While not directly related to the Kirschenbaum, I thought it connected enough to post. It seemed like a potential point to launch into discussions on the permanence of data, and it reminded me of a year or two ago when Michelle sent out an e-mail asking people to stop using the resource room computers to look at porn. 

"Kony2012," an activist movement aimed at arresting Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, has recently harnessed the power of social media (especially Facebook and Twitter) to spread its message. This is just one of the articles I've found that examines the role of social media in modern-day activism.

Bogost's game study. Lots to play here.

This RSA adaptation of Evgeny Morozov's 2009 talk illustrates (and examines) the concept of "cyber-utopianism": the theory that the internet "plays a largely emancipatory role in global politics." Morozov discusses whether or not the internet predominately empowers or censors citizens by facilitating activism and allowing individuals to disseminate information more effectively.